Summerlin man visits 500 colleges but has no plans to see more

By Jeff O'Brien

Wednesday, Nov. 12, 2008 | midnight

For most people, visiting every state capital or watching a game at every major league ballpark in the United States would be a lifetime achievement.

Summerlin resident Steve Lake has done both of those, and to top it off, he has also visited 500 college campuses from coast to coast over the past two decades.

Lake and his wife, Caroline, made their 500th and final stop at Our Lady of the Lake University in San Antonio, Texas on Oct. 13, completing an odyssey that began 24 years ago.

"It all started when Caroline and I honeymooned in the Boston area in 1984," Lake said. "We decided to visit some of the famous Ivy League schools like Harvard, MIT and Dartmouth. I said to Caroline, 'these schools are nothing like the college I graduated from in Montreal.'"

A native of Canada, Lake graduated from Concordia University in Montreal with a degree in marketing. He described the school as a 12-story office building with "no campus whatsoever and not a blade of grass."

"I really felt like I missed out on the college experience," Lake said. "So I decided from that point on, whenever I traveled, I would visit colleges along the way."

He started out by visiting five to 10 colleges each year, and as the years went on he passed 200 total stops. Eventually, he reached 300 and decided that 500 college visits would be a "nice milestone."

"After my 300th visit I began taking some trips in which the sole purpose was to visit campuses," Lake said. "Once, while traveling through Philadelphia and Pittsburgh, I visited about 40 colleges in one weekend."

His record is 12 colleges in one day.

"I like the college atmosphere," said Lake, who works as a pit boss at Caesars Palace and also has his own public relations firm. "I enjoy looking at the various kinds of architecture, water features and landscaping. Some of the campuses are beautiful."

When he was considering which campus to choose for his 500th visit, Lake said a couple he met at Caesars Palace recommended Our Lady of the Lake University, a private Catholic school in San Antonio.

"Caroline and I were in San Antonio in 1986 and we loved the area," Lake said. "And my name is part of the school. That wasn't the main reason for going, but it was kind of funny."

The festivities on Oct. 13 included a full tour of the campus and a proclamation from the mayor that declared Lake a citizen of San Antonio. He was also a guest speaker at a business communication class, where Lake discussed the field of public relations and provided job-seeking tips to students.

When asked to name his top three schools out of the hundreds he has visited — in no particular order — Lake named the University of Richmond, the University of Virginia and Colgate University as his favorites.

"The beauty and serenity of the campuses is what stands out," Lake said. "There's a certain feel that you get when you visit those schools."

Lake has dined in hundreds of college cafeterias and has quite a collection of t-shirts and other memorabilia.

Many people have asked if he interacts with a lot of students during his visits, but Lake said it's very rare. He's been involved in no house parties or on-campus pranks.

"I'm there more as an observer," he said.

The largest campuses out of the 500 total, Lake said, were the University of Texas, Ohio State University and the University of Maryland.

"The University of Texas had to bus people around from place to place," he said. "That campus is huge. Ohio State is big and I remember the University of Maryland was also a really big school."

The only two states in which he hasn't visited a college campus are Hawaii and Wyoming, but Lake and his wife don't have any plans to increase their total.

"At this point I'm not looking to pad my stats," Lake said. "I've had my fill. But it gave me the opportunity to visit a lot of small towns and beautiful areas I never would have had a reason to go to."

Jeff O’Brien can be reached at 990-8957 or [email protected].